MINOR CALLS BRUNETTI MOVE ‘CHARADE’, PUSHES FORWARD IN SUIT
By Ray Paulick
Attorneys for Halsey Minor and Save Hialeah Racing have filed responses to John Brunetti’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit against Brunetti and the City of Hialeah over who is the legal owner of the South Florida racetrack that has been closed since 2001.
The suit, filed in February in the 11th Circuit Court for Dade County, Fla., claims the City of Hialeah wrongly turned over the deed to the historic racetrack to a real estate entity owned by Brunetti, in violation of the city charter that requires a referendum before the transfer of city-owned property. It also claimed that Brunetti failed to live up to the terms of the lease with an option to buy Hialeah Park, when he failed to maintain a pari-mutuel permit and ceased live racing.
Brunetti’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the complaint as a sham, stating, among other things, that the agreement between the city and Brunetti preceded the law requiring a referendum on ownership transfers of city-property.
Brunetti’s motion to dismiss was based on alleged non-compliance with Florida Rule of Civil Procedure because plaintiffs did not attach a document to the amended first complaints; a lack of standing by plaintiffs; and alleged lack of viable claims against Brunetti.
Minor’s attorneys called those claims “baseless” in their responses, which can be viewed here and here. The motion to dismiss is based in part on the opinion of William Grodnick, attorney for the city of Hialeah. The response from Minor’s attorneys states “neither Plaintiffs nor more importantly this Court are bound by Grodnick’s unilateral, self-serving, and unsupported view of the law. The view of the law developed by Grodnick and supported by the Brunetti Defendants, with which Plaintiffs obviously disagree, merely frames the issue for this Court to adjudicate in this declaratory judgment action. The views of a defendant’s attorney do not render Plaintiffs’ Complaint a purported “sham” and do not support the Brunetti Defendants’ effort to shut down this lawsuit and escape what will likely be very revealing discovery as this matter goes forward.”
In a press release from Save Hialeah Racing, Minor, said he believes “the time has come to restore Hialeah Park Racetrack by preserving its historic buildings and reinstituting Thoroughbred racing on its track for the benefit of the citizens of Hialeah and the rest of Florida, as well as the millions of annual visitors to Florida.” The release stated Minor is “prepared to invest more than $100 million in restoring Hialeah Park Racetrack to make this dream a reality.”
Minor also called the recent move to bring Quarter Horse racing to Hialeah Park as a “charade.”
“The quarter horse proposal merely distracts the public’s attention from the deplorable condition of Hialeah Park Racetrack and is an insult to the people of Hialeah, who are accustomed to hosting the finest thoroughbred horses in the world.”
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
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Tags: Halsey Minor, hialeah lawsuit, Hialeah Park, john brunetti, minor lawsuit, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick
April 15th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I am not a big fan of Minor’s, but at the same time the failure of the local government controlling (?) Hialeah and Brunetti’s failure to perform (including maintain) clearly violate the terms of contract. Now whether or not the local government has failed to exercise their right and within a specified or stated contractual period is unknown to me. Either way, I hope Mr. Minor is not getting very expensive smoke blown up is butt by his attorneys and has a CLEAR and WINABLE legal strategy. Brunetti’s QH attempt, overtures and shamigins are at least some acknowledgement that there may very well be a “failure to perform” as condition of final sale of Hialeah. Didn’t anyone else think that action was odd? I did. Go get ‘em Mr. Minor.
April 15th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
The biggest charade on all in horse racing right now is Halsey Minor. He’s on an ego trip and running out of gas.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
To a point Al, to a point. He can’t be any worse than Stronach. That being said and based on the PPs of MEC, Brunetti and NTRA (to name just a few), I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Really….how worse could it go? But there does a come a time where either one “puts up or shuts up”. We shall see. And Minor’s attempt at controlling Hialeah or some of the MEC tracks is hardly the biggest “charade” in racing today. Seriously, hardly.
The bigger question is…is he running out of money? We know Stronach has; after he built his palaces that will probably be protected in his bankruptcy and Golden Parachutes. That bothers me a ton more than Minor.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
okay so I’m not 100 per cent convinced that Halsey Minor has all the answers or all the money he needs to fix Hialeah and buy Magna out of banruptcy but I have no doubt that John Burnetti has been the worse thing to happen to Florida racing in my lifetime and that Frank Stronach has been a disaster as track owner even if had good intentions
Can he possibly be any worse than Brunetti and Stronach?
April 15th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Seems pretty simple to me, Brunetti has no rights to the property as he clearly violated the Lease with option to aquire because he discontinued racing at Hialeah. I know because I was there the last day in May 2001. By not keeping a valid parimutual license during 2002-2004, and also by not keeping the peoperty up ( in terms of it’s condition) he was not eleigible to take posession from the City of Hialeah. The City will be declared owner of the property and Brunetti is out, simple as that.
Minor or anybody else at that point will be able to make a new deal with the CIty of Hialeah. Why would Hialeah fight that? What do they have to gain by a Brunetti win? Hmmm, those politicians are on the take from Brunetti?, or they should fight along Minor and Save Hialeah as they have everything to benefit and nothing to lose unless they are in cahoots with Brunetti.
this will be very interesting to see it play out. The legal briefs are an excelent read, clearly Brunetti is sh****tin in his pants on this one.
Go get um Save Hialeah and Minor!
April 15th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
If you’re looking for a track owner conducting a charade, look no futher than Suffolk Downs. Last year track management was applauded for it’s proactive anti-slaughter policy in which it was to permanently ban horsemen who violated this. Suffolk proceeded to ban 5 inviduals in late November when it didn’t need them to fill entries. WIth live racing about to resume, they have reinstated 3 of the 5 after requiring admission of guilt, a letter of apology and a lousy $1,000 donation to some animal rescue fund. This announcement was made on the heels of last weekend’s Derby preps when Suffolks wisely assumed no one would be paying attention. With few exceptions, such as Thoroughbred Times, these hypocrites seem to have gotten their wish. I hope every horse-loving horseplayer reading this boycotts wagering on the Suffolk product. We don’t need to fund admitted violaters of an anti-slaughter policy or the management that reneged on such after garning the positive publicity.
April 16th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I agree totally with Tim Steiniger. I’ve worked in a Law Firm for many years, as a paralegal and I’ve been following this story closely. In my opinion, this is a clear cut case of Brunetti not complying with the Lease Agreement, which in turn makes the Contract to be in Default. Now is time for the Citizens of Hialeah to regain control of their beloved racetrack and defend her so the rest of the world can see Thoroughbred racing return to the Most Beautiful Track in the USA! Halsey Minor is the only one willing to put the money needed to restore this Awesome Track. Mr. Minor, I pray you can save Hialeah and I Thank You as a Floridian and a Horse Lover
April 16th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Mr. Minor has the vision and desire to turn Hialeah Park into a world-class facility, which has the potential to revitalize a neighborhood and actually be a fabulous marketing tool for an industry that needs something, somewhere that truly links the past to the present, with a sense of direction for the future.
Brunetti demonstrated incompetence as a track owner (when it operated), arrogance since he closed Hialeah and criminality in not complying with the lease agreement. And that career politicians were in on this “fix” is not surprising; but this game must end.
Someone try to convince me that the Wrigley Field of Thoroughbred racing should just rot away or be patched up for some ridiculous Quarter Horse schedule. Brunetti and his political chums are trying to do this and it stinks of corruption.